266 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
he did his best to silence him now. He accused the Pope of
being careless of the faith and a friend to heresy and repeated
that he himself had merely intervened in the matter at the
request of the Inquisition.
Clement was not satisfied. He appeared to be about to
give real battle to the king and come forward as a steadfast
champion of the Temple. But Clement could hardly have
been more feebly equipped. He was within reach of Philip's
vengeance—even if he could have escaped from Avignon,
Rome was still barred to him—and he owed his election to
France. The king continued to press for the condemnation
of Boniface, an undertaking to which Clement was more and
more opposed, and from which he hoped to wean Philip by
placating him on other questions. Philip's position on the
other hand was very strong indeed. Although he had been
the initiator of the persecution, he could make out a defence
of his behaviour which carried conviction. He reiterated
again and again that the secular power was in duty bound to
come to the aid of the spiritual arm when so requested—a
principle that had been enunciated by many Popes and which
Clement could not contest 5 and, said Philip, who was he to
question the right of the Grand Inquisitor of France, a man
directly appointed by the papacy? Philip held all the cards
and he played them adroitly. He made his actions appear to
have been dictated by a desire to help the Church and he
argued that any criticism of him was due to tepidness for
religion on the part of his critics. The king had already
discredited the Templars by sweeping them from their
preceptories and treating them as criminals guilty of horrible
crimes, and he had evidence of heresy which Clement did not
dare to ignore. The archbishops of France were under
Philip's thumb, and they informed Clement that they heartily
supported the intervention of the State in so serious an affair.
The Church of France was indeed almost solid behind the
sovereign, for Philip's propagandists had converted the clergy